Maznek Septic Service does a brisk business in septic system evaluations for home sales. Both owner Larry Maznek and team member Trace Uhlinger are state-licensed evaluators, and they do a thorough job of assessing system condition, with help from pipe inspection camera and locating technologies.

The company, based in Bedford, New Hampshire, owns a RIDGID SeeSnake microReel inspection system and a Troglotech Trogloprobe T812 pan-and-tilt camera, along with a Gen-Eye Hot-Spot pipe locator that can be used to locate either camera head.

As part of each evaluation, they send a camera down the line, taking note of conditions such as structural defects and root intrusion. The Trogloprobe camera head swivels 180 degrees horizontal and vertical, enabling thorough inspection of distribution boxes. “When we go into a distribution box, we can actually look around to see if it’s sound and also level,” Maznek says. “We don’t even have to open up the D-box after that.” 

Along with their inspection report, property owners receive video recorded during the camera inspection, along with photos of the tank baffles and a diagram that uses triangulation on graph paper to pinpoint, for future reference, the location of the tank lid.

Seamless inspection process

The Gen-Eye locator is especially useful on sites where the original drainfield has been abandoned and a new field created. “We need to make sure we’re looking at the field that is currently being used,” Maznek says.

“Often when we’re doing an evaluation, no site plan is available. A couple of times we thought we knew where the drainfield was but when we deployed the sonde and pinged the distribution box, we found out it was in a whole different location.”

The locator has a total field antenna array and on-screen icons that lead users straight to the target. Experienced or new users can locate cameras, sondes, power lines and other utility lines with high accuracy without having to interpret numbers and bar graphs. A backlit LCD display uses arrows that point the way to the target. The unit has an IP65 rating performance in dusty, dirty or wet site conditions. The battery lasts 30 hours, and automatic shutdown saves power.

The Trogloprobe camera keeps the view always right-side up. The camera head is machined from high-grade stainless steel, and the rotating parts are sealed with fiber-based dirt seals, quad-rings and O-rings for long life. The windows for the lens and custom LEDs are sapphire. At a maximum diameter of 60 mm, the device can survey 4- to 6-inch lines when fitted to a standard brush skid set. The image faithfully captures true colors. 

The RIDGID SeeSnake microReel unit provides high-quality images of the tank piping and distribution box. The system is designed to provide maneuverability for small-diameter pipes and for inspections that require tight bends. The camera head passes 90-degree bends in lines as small as 2 inches. A stiff push cable enables line inspections up to 100 feet.

The system is lightweight and compact for easy transport in a truck and movement to the job site. A hardened stainless steel camera head with spring assembly provides long service life, and long-lasting, high-intensity lamps provide quality viewing.

Inspection reports to property owners use a five-level rating scale: Good, fair, poor, failing and failed. “We don’t tell them how much time is left in a drainfield,” Maznek says. “We can only tell them the condition that it’s in at the time of inspection.”